Our third week is winding down on the tour and our presenters have sent in their updates for all of you to see. This time, we have a special treat– a video of Co-Director Juan Vanega’s presentation at Colby College created by MEDLIFE Communications Director Lindsay Bigda:

If link above doesn’t work, you can view the video on Vimeo here: http://vimeo.com/51252802

Oct. 9, 2012: 

My visit at Colby was awesome!  As I began to search for the room where our presentation was going to be, I ran into Jen Tsang. A native to the Greater Bangor Area, she helped me back in 2009 to get a group students together so that I could talk to them about MEDLIFE. That meeting, three years ago, saw the very first inception of MEDLIFE at Colby College. To run into her, precisely as I was about to speak at Colby again, felt like more than just a coincidence, and offered and great little moment to reflect on how much MEDLIFE has grown.

Lindsay and I set up about an hour before the presentation began and we shot some video while we waited for the students to arrive. The presentation went very well and the students were incredibly responsive. They all showed enthusiasm and stuck around for some discussion afterward. The presdient of the chapter, Meghan Tedoldi, did a great job coordinating everything for the meeting to happen and I was reassured to see that she was at the head of the chapter there. I am very confident that it has the potential to, not only do very well this year, but to set itself up so that it will do well in the years to come.

Catch Juan on one of his stops by checking out his other dates on the Northeast region schedule page.

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Oct. 12, 2012: 

The meeting at Indiana went well! They had a strong turnout and an enthusiastic e-board. I was very impressed with the webpage they created. Bloomington is a very charming little town and is especially beautiful this time of year. Thank you, Antony Vo for your hospitality.

I had a productive meeting at the University of Illinois with Krista Kimme, Associate Director of Development at the College of Applied Sciences. She was very enthusiastic about MEDLIFE and I believe that she will help students at UI start a successful MEDLIFE chapter.

I was very impressed with the turnout at Northwestern University. The president, Natalie, and co-president, Neil, are great student leaders. They have both been to South America several times and are able to speak about MEDLIFE and their experiences at great length. They have also already set up volunteer hours and fundraisers despite only being back in school for one whole week! I expect great things from the NWU chapter this year!

See where else Sean is presenting by checking out his other dates on the Midwest schedule page.

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Oct. 8, 2012:

This morning I went to Drew University to speak with two medical anthropology professors, a class, and then at a discussion lunch, and everything went very well. The class seemed interested in the aspect of root causes and about 7 students from the class came to the casual lunch discussion afterwards. Several other students from other classes also came, so there were probably around 15 students in total at lunch. We went over how the mobile clinics are run, what students get to do hands-on, and how MEDLIFE differs from other organizations.

One student told me that he is part of a fundraising group on campus and he was especially interested in the “fundraise for a specific project” part of the presentation, so naturally, I mentioned our Wawa Wasi project to him and the efforts we’ve been making our chapters this month. He said this is something they would like to get involved with. Also, I made it clear that students do not have to be part of a chapter to participate in mobile clinics, and that students don’t have to participate in mobile clinics to be part of a chapter. There were definitely some interested students. We will see what happens!

Catch Biz on the tour by checking out the Mid-Atlantic region schedule page.

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Oct. 11, 2012:

I went to visit Barry’s MEDLIFE chapter in order to present to the current members. Around 15 people showed up. Juan’s story really impacted the members and as soon as the presentation was over, they began sharing fundraising ideas. I expect a lot of good things to come from this chapter!

On the 8th, I went to Ft. Lauderdale to present at the new Nova South Eastern University MEDLIFE chapter. The president seems like a very passionate and hardworking student leader, and I’m very optimistic about working with them. She also informed me that their undergraduate program does not have any global volunteering organizations on campus, so MEDLIFE has potential to be a huge hit. Unfortunately, it was midterms week when I came, so only 4 people were able to show up to the presentation. However, since I will be in South Florida for a few days, I told her that I would come and give the presentation to a larger student body on Friday. Hoping for a good turnout!

Find out where Mauricio will be giving talks in Florida by checking out the Southeast region schedule page.